UTTAR PRADESH Congress Committee president Salman Khurshid, on Saturday, termed the situation in the Samajwadi Party as explosive, following a recent statement by Raj Babbar.

UTTAR PRADESH Congress Committee president Salman Khurshid, on Saturday, termed the situation in the Samajwadi Party as explosive, following a recent statement by Raj Babbar.

He also announced that the Congress would hold eight regional and five State-level rallies to highlight the Manmohan Singh-led UPA Government’s achievements.

Talking to mediapersons, Khurshid said Samajwadi Party MP Raj Babbar had contributed a lot to his party, adding that now people from within the SP wanted to bring the truth to the fore.

Khurshid said he spoke to Babbar on the telephone to tell him that all right thinking people were with him at this point of time.

He also said the law and order situation was at its lowest ebb in the State and it was high time for the Centre to act against the SP Government.

He added that the government should also own responsibility for lapses that led to Mau riots. He quoted reports in a section media to assert there was no rule of law in the UP.

He announced that eight regional ‘Jan Vishwas Abhiyan’ yatras would commence on February 14, 2006. Routes of ‘yatras’ were being finalised to cover all the districts, he said, adding meetings would be held in various districts on February 10, 2006 to finalise the yatra programmes.

The UPCC would appoint one observer for each yatra in addition to the local party observers, he said.

Five State-level yatras, however, would start after the block panchayat chief’s elections, he said. All the five state yatras would cover the banks of one of the five rivers Ganga, Yamuna, Ghaghra, Gomti and Rapti, he said, adding the first State yatra would commence from the banks of the Ganga in Bijnore.